Friday, December 21, 2007

At the greenmarket the other day, I spied some organic King Trumpet mushrooms. These are built for quick sauteeing, as they are big (some over six inches long), thick, meaty, and tasty. I fixed up a soup with some chicken thighs and about two pounds of beef neck bones. Added some chopped up carrots, onions, and green peppers, and boiled the whole thing for a couple of hours, carefully removing the chicken after an hour for another use (chicken salad, what else?). While I was cooking the soup down, I cut the trumpets into 1/4" slices the long way, and sauteed very briefly over high heat in olive oil and butter. Then I sauteed about 1/2 pound of creminis in oil and butter, finishing them off with some good British malt vinegar, and dumped them in soup bowls. I poured the soup over them, then topped with the trumpets, and some melty cheese, for a rich, beefy, mushroom soup that was like a French onion soup, but topped with mushrooms. On the side I quick-pickled some organic breakfast radishes (equal amounts of salt and sugar, combine, let radishes sit in it for ten minutes), and toasted some bread. It was rich...

Monday, December 03, 2007

As I'm still convalescing, I haven't been able to wander the dark streets (the streets I wander are dark both day and night) for my usual fixes. So in honor of the historic vote by Venezuelans, I present a classic dish from Maracaibo, as lovingly prepared by my longtime companion, a Maracucha. This town gets so hot it makes Miami look like Chicago. I'm talking 120 degrees, with about 99% humidity. You begin to crave shade, and coconut juice.The gizzards must be soaked overnight in lime juice, to soften, and the little membranes are then removed. After that it's a quick saute of onions and garlic, then the innards, stewing with water until soft, then stewing with enough coconut milk to keep it going for a while, adding more and stirring as necessary. You'll know when it's done by the aroma. Takes a while. Serve over rice.For your cocktail party chatter, did you know that coconut milk contains no milk? Well, there's a thick milk and a thin milk. Thick coconut milk is prepared by directly squeezing grated coconut meat through cheesecloth. The squeezed coconut meat is then soaked in warm water and squeezed a second or third time for thin coconut milk. Fascinating. Sometimes it's just too hot to think...